Box Score
 
CHICAGO—Sophomore Jasmine Collins scored a pair of free throws with two minutes remaining in the contest to break a 56-56 tie as Chicago State nipped visiting NJIT, 58-57, in women's basketball Great West Conference action Saturday evening at the Jones Convocation Center.
 
Chicago State, which snaps a 15-game losing streak, improves to 2-17 overall, 1-1 in conference play while the Highlanders drop its second straight road contest; falling to 8-13 overall, 1-1 in the league.
 
With 2:28 remaining in the contest, NJIT's Uju Nwankwo sank a pair of free throws knotting the game for the seventh time at 56.  Twenty-eight seconds later, Chicago State's Collins is fouled.  Collins, who is shooting 64 percent on the season, makes both free throws giving the Cougars a two-point advantage, 58-56, with two minutes left to go.
 
On the next possession for the Highlanders, senior Rayven Johnson drove the ball down the lane with 1:41 remaining just missing with an acrobatic layup but sending herself to the free throw line.  Johnson knocked down the first try but missed the second for a one-point game, 58-57.
 
Neither team would score in the final 1:40 but the Highlanders had three opportunities to seal the game in the final 30 seconds.
 
The Highlanders first attempt was with 30 seconds as Johnson missed a layup in traffic as the ball got knocked out of bounds.
 
First-year head coach Steve Lanpher called a 60-second timeout with twenty-nine seconds.  Out of the timeout, the Highlanders found sophomore Denisa Domiterova open behind the arc on the right side but Domiterova's shot was off line with 13 seconds remaining.
 
Point guard Alyssa Albanese chased down the rebound and was fouled close to mid-court with 3.4 seconds left on the clock sending the 5-foot-3 guard to the free throw line for the first time in the contest for a one-and-one.
 
Albanese's attempt hit the back of the rim and bounced off to the left where NJIT's Nwankwo pulled down her 12^th rebound of the game.  Nwankwo put up an off-balanced jump shot with one second remaining but it was off the mark as Chicago State came away with a 58-57 home victory.
 
Chicago State was paced by sophomore forward Paris Williams' double-double (15pts, 11rebs) followed by 15 points from Collins and 11 and 10 from Jackie Jones and Tierra Williams, respectively.
 
Paris Williams finished the contest 5-for-9 from the field and 4-of-6 from the free throw line while Jones posted a game-high six assists and five steals for the Cougars.
 
NJIT was led by Nwankwo, which posted her four double-double of the season with 14 points and 12 rebounds while Johnson was one rebound shy a double-double with 13 points and nine rebounds.
 
Domiterova came off the bench for the Highlanders and scored nine points in 25 minutes of action (all in the first half) while senior Melanie Griffin chipped in eight points and pulled down five rebounds.
 
The contest started with both teams trading the first two baskets, as the Highlanders then took an 8-4 lead going into the 16-minute media timeout after a fast break three-pointer by Martina Matejcikova.
 
Chicago State scored the next five points in a span of 20 seconds taking a 9-8 lead at the 14:20 mark. 
 
The visitors responded scoring four quick points for a 12-9 lead but the home team evened the score at 12 when Collins hit an old fashion three-point play at 13:08.
 
NJIT got back on top 18-14 after consecutive three-pointers by Domiterova with 11:50 remaining. 
 
Neither team would lead by more than one-point over the next five minutes until the Highlanders went on a 7-0 run – ahead one, 22-21, on a lay-up by Nwankwo and then extending the lead to six, 27-21, on the third three-pointer by Domiterova at 7:24.
 
Chicago State went on a 6-2 spurt tying the score at 29 for the fourth time in the first 20 minutes on a layup by Chanel Wilson-Stewert with 2:09 left on the clock.
 
NJIT finished out the first half on a 5-3 run for a 34-32 halftime score heading into intermission.  Nwankwo led the half with 10 points followed by Domiterova with nine.  Chicago State's Paris Williams paced the Cougars with nine points.
 
In the first 7:30 of the second half, neither team scored more than five points as the contest was tied on two occasions – 35 at the 16-minute mark and 37 at the 13:30 mark.
 
The Cougars would then rally for an 11-2 spurt taking a nine-point lead, 48-39.  NJIT's Johnson knocked down a baseline jumper at the nine-minute mark but the Cougars responded taking its biggest lead of the contest, 12, 53-41, after five straight points with 7:30 left to go.
 
Chicago State stayed on top by eight, 56-48, on a jumper in the paint by Jones but a layup by Johnson at the 4:45 mark sparked an 8-0 run for the visitors tying the game at 56 with 2:28 remaining.
 
The Highlanders, who have played its last two games on the road, will return back home to the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center on Thursday to host a non-conference contest with Howard at 7pm.
 
The all-time series between NJIT and Howard stands at 1-1 with the Highlanders taking a 60-57 victory in Newark in 2010-11 and Howard defeating NJIT last season, 58-31, in Washington, DC.